Full text of DOI:10.1111/1468-0033.00320

Reinventing exhibition spaces in
China
Wu Hung
As a consequence of socio-economic
transformation, new types of exhibition
spaces have appeared in China's cultural
landscape. Wu Hung explores the social
basis of these changes and reviews the
rapidly evolving system which has led to a
great variety of possibilities for presenting
Current fundamental changes taking place economy. However, it was only in the mid-
in contemporary Chinese art are not limited 1990s when the consequences of this
to art media and styles but also concern transformation were fully felt. Numerous
forms and channels of exhibitions. These private and joint-venture businesses have
concerns reflect
a new direction for overwhelmed state enterprise; money, not
Chinese experimental art towards normal- Communist ideology, has become the
ization and systematization. Instead of mover of social progress. Major cities such
experimental art. As he examines the issues pursuing a social revolution, independent as Beijing and Shanghai have been
behind each type of exhibition space, we
witness the interplay of complex social and
artistic relationships and its role in
curators and avant-garde artists have reshaped, showing off their newly gained
become more interested in building up a global confidence with glimmering shop-
social basis that would guarantee regular ping complexes and five-star hotels.
exhibitions of experimental art and reduce Changes have also taken place in people's
interference from the political authorities. A lifestyle. While private real estate was
number of factors in Chinese art have abolished during the Cultural Revolution,
encouraged this interest: the deepening the most popular commercial items these
globalization of Chinese experimental art; days are houses and apartments. Holly-
a crisis in the official exhibition system; the wood films have conquered Chinese
appearance of new types of exhibition cinemas; fashion shows and beauty
space as a consequence of China's socio- pageants are ranked among the most
economic transformation; and the emerg- popular television programmes. Although
ence of independent curators and their the government still insists on the Com-
growing influence on the development of munist ideology, in many people's minds, a
contemporary art. These factors all interact, final giving way of this ideology is only a
contributing to new kinds of exhibitions matter of time. Generally speaking, China
that have been planned to expand existing in 2001 is no longer a socialist monolith, but
exhibition spaces and to forge new a huge mixture of old and new, feudal and
expanding the influence of experimental
art in a changing society that is China
today. Distinguished professor of Chinese
Art History at the Department of Fine Arts,
University of Chicago since 1994, Wu
Hung holds an M.A. in Art History from
the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
(1980) and a Ph.D. in Art History and
Anthropology from Harvard University
(1987). Among his books covering the pre-
modern period are: Monumentality in Early
Chinese Art and Architecture, which was
nominated as one of the `the Best Books of
the 1990s' in Artforum, and selected by
Choices as `Outstanding Academic
Publication' in 1996; Three Thousand
Years of Chinese Paintings of which he was
the co-author and for which he received
the Haskin Award in 1998 from the
Association of American Publishers. His
publications on modern and contemporary
art issues include: Remaking Beijing:
Tiananmen Square and the Creation of
Political Space (London, Reaction Books),
and, as editor, A New Beginning: Chinese
Art of 2000 (Beijing, Chinese-art.com). As
chief curator, he is working on the
exhibition channels.2
post-modern, excitement and anxiety. The
country's future will depend on the out-
come of negotiation between conflicting
social forces.
Socio-economic conditions of new
exhibition spaces
These words also describe the current
The advocates of these new types of situation of art exhibitions in China:
exhibitions believe that China's socio- important progress is definitely taking
economic transformation has created and place, but the government is far from
continues to create new social sectors and ready to give up its pre-eminent role in
spaces which can be exploited for this area. In China, any art exhibition is
developing experimental art. It is now defined first of all by its physical location.
possible to develop a new exhibition My survey of current exhibition spaces of
system because of these new conditions experimental art has yielded the following
forthcoming Chinese Art of the 90s: A
Retrospective (The First Guangshou
Documenta Exhibition, Guangzhou
Provincial Museum ± November 2002),
and, as co-curator, on Art of Mu Xin:
Landscape Paintings and Prison Notes, also
a forthcoming exhibition at the Yale
University Art Museum and Smart Museum
of Art, University of Chicago.1
in the country.
classification.3
This transformation started in the 1970s and
1980s, soon after the Cultural Revolution
was over, when the post-Cultural
Revolution generation of Chinese leaders
Spaces for public exhibitions (or `open'
exhibitions) of experimental art
made a dramatic turn to develop a capitalist Licensed exhibition spaces:
ISSN 1350-0775, Museum International (UNESCO, Paris), No. 211 (Vol. 53, No. 3, 2001)
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Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JF (UK) and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148 (USA)
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Wu Hung
•
•
•
Major national and municipal galleries The main exhibition channels of experi-
(e.g. the National Art Gallery in Beijing, mental art in the early 1990s ± the period
the Shanghai Art Museum, the He immediately after the crackdown on the
Xiangning Art Gallery in Shenzhen).
June 4th Movement ± were private or
Smaller galleries affiliated with univer- closed shows, whose audience were
sities and art schools (e.g. the Capital mainly artists themselves, their friends,
Normal University Art Gallery and the and foreigners. Terms such as `apartment
Contemporary Art Gallery in Beijing).
art' and `embassy art' were invented to
Semi-official art galleries (e.g. the Yan- characterize these shows. Starting from
huang Art Gallery in Beijing, the Art 1993, however, exhibitions began to be
Gallery of Beijing International Art held in various public spaces. Commercial
Palace, and the Chengdu Contemporary galleries started to appear, and some of
Art Gallery).
them supported experimental art projects
•
Versatile exhibition halls in public that were not aimed at financial return.
spaces (e.g. the Main Hall of the former Some university galleries became major
Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing).
sites of experimental art, mainly because
their directors took the role of supporting
Privately owned galleries and exhibition this art upon themselves. Sympathizers of
halls:
experimental art also emerged in state-run
exhibition entreprises.
•
•
Commercial galleries (e.g. the Courtyard
Gallery, the Red Gate Gallery, and the Although many `private' or `closed'
Wan Fung Art Gallery in Beijing).
exhibitions still exist, greater effort has
Non-commercial galleries and exhibi- been made to organize experimental art
tion halls (e.g. the Upriver Art Gallery in exhibitions in public spaces over the past
Chengdu and Taida Art Gallery in three years. Following this general direc-
Tianjin).4
tion, independent curators may work with
licensed `official' or `semi-official' exhibi-
tion spaces, and try to convert their
directors into supporters of experimental
Public, non-exhibition spaces:
•
•
•
Open spaces (e.g. streets, subway art. Alternatively, they may devote their
stations, parks, etc.).
energy to help privately owned exhibition
Commercial spaces (e.g. shopping spaces to develop interesting pro-
malls, bars, supermarkets, etc.).
grammes. A third strategy is to use `non-
Mass media and virtual space (e.g. exhibition' spaces to bring experimental
television, newspapers and websites).
art to the public in a more flexible manner.
Spaces for private exhibitions (or `closed'
exhibitions) of experimental art
Transforming official exhibition
spaces
•
Private homes.
Traditionally, all official art galleries were
•
•
•
Basements of large residential or sponsored by the state, and their exhibi-
commercial buildings.
tions served strong educational purposes.
`Open studios' and `workshops' spon- Although this is still theoretically true
sored by individuals or institutions.
Embassies and foreign institutions.
today, in reality most of these public
galleries have to finance their own opera-
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Reinventing Exhibition Spaces in China
tions. For this and other purposes they
have to modify their image to appeal to a
wider audience, and, as a result, their
programmes have become increasingly
multi-purpose. Even the National Art Gal-
lery in Beijing, the primary mouthpiece of
the government in the art world, routinely
holds three different kinds of exhibitions,
which are more than often ideologically
self-contradictory. These include: (a)
mainstream exhibitions organized by the
gallery to support the government's
political agenda and to showcase `pro-
gressive' traditions in Chinese art; (b)
imported exhibitions of foreign art,
including avant-garde Western art, as part
of China's cultural exchange with other
countries; and (c) short-term and often
mediocre `rental' exhibitions as the main
source of the gallery's income (the gallery
collects a handsome fee for renting out its
exhibition space and facilities). It is easy
for anyone to question why the gallery
can show Western but not Chinese avant-
garde art, and why it willingly provides
space for an exhibition of obviously poor
quality but not for an exhibition of
genuine artistic experiment.
example, has organized three Bienniales Poster for Exhibition of Recent Words by
in the past six years. The most recent one Zhang Peli and Geng Jianyi, held in the
was put together by an international Diplomatic Missions Restaurant, Beijing,
curatorial team, whose members included 29 May 1991.
two guest curators from France and Japan.
Supported by the municipal government,
the museum placed a strong emphasis on
the relationship between the show and
Shanghai, a city that `represents a specific
and innovative model of modernization, a
regionally defined but globally meaning-
ful form of modernity that can only be
summed up as the ``Shanghai Spirit''.'5
Some independent curators are attracted
by the opportunities to help organize
Unable to respond to these questions but
still insisting on its opportunistic practices, these kinds of official programmes,
the National Art Gallery ± and indeed the because they see in them the potential
whole state-run art exhibition system ± is for transforming the official system of art
rapidly loosing its credibility. It is there- exhibition from within. In their view,
fore not surprising to find that the position when they bring experimental art into an
of the National Art Gallery is not always official and semi-official exhibition space,
this art also changes the nature of the
space. For this reason, these curators have
shared by other public art galleries.
Important changes are taking place tried to work with large public galleries to
proving the possibility of bringing develop exhibitions, although such
experimental art into official art galleries. projects often require delicate negotiation
Some of these galleries, especially those and frequent compromises.
newly established ones and those of the
`semi-official' kind, are more interested in Generally speaking, however, national
and municipal galleries are still not ready
to support openly experimental projects
developing new programmes to make
themselves more cosmopolitan and up-
to-date. The Shanghai Art Museum, for by young Chinese artists. Even when they
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Wu Hung
hold an exhibition of a more adventurous Forging new channels: creating semi-
nature, they still have to emphasize its
`academic merit' to avoid possible criti-
public and private galleries
cism. Compared with these large galleries, The Yanhuang Art Gallery and the
smaller galleries affiliated to universities, International Art Palace, both in Beijing,
art schools, and other institutions are are among the earliest semi-public art
under less scrutiny from the government. galleries established in China. These
Their directors feel less pressure to exhibition spaces are funded by private
maintain a `correct' political attitude, and foundations, but obtain their legal status
are sometimes willing to feature radical of a `public exhibition space' from the
experimental works in their galleries for municipal government largely because of
either artistic or economic reasons. If a private political connections. In contrast
director is actively involved in promoting to state-run art galleries, the semi-public
experimental art, his gallery, though small status of these galleries gives them greater
and little known in the official system, can flexibility to determine their programmes.
play an important role in developing this Another noticeable example of a semi-
art. Examples of such cases include the Art public gallery is the Chengdu Contem-
Gallery of the Capital Normal University porary Art Museum founded in September
and the Contemporary Gallery of the 1999. Large enough to contain a football
Central Art School, which held many field, this gallery is part of an even larger
original exhibitions from 1994 to 1996. architectural complex including two
On the part of an independent curator, if luxury hotels (a five- and a four-star).
he proposes to stage an exhibition for The whole project is financed by
only a few days and to keep it low in Chengdu's municipal government and a
profile, he is more likely to use such Sino-American joint venture company
exhibition spaces.
called the California Group. The mu-
seum's inauguration coincided with an
There is a seeming contradiction in the enormous exhibition. Called Gate of the
world of Chinese experimental art. Beijing New Century, this exhibition included a
is the unquestionable centre of this art, considerable number of installations and
because most experimental artists live some performance pieces ± content that
there. However, it is also in Beijing where would normally be omitted in a main-
it is the most difficult for these artists to stream state-run gallery.
show their works publicly. In the capital,
art exhibitions are most carefully watched Unlike the Chengdu Contemporary Art
over by the authorities. Consequently, Museum, which is partially funded by the
most cancellations of exhibitions have local government and is thus defined here
occurred there. In comparison, it is easier as `semi-public', some art galleries are
to hold experimental exhibitions in the entirely privately owned. A major change
provinces, where censorship is not as in China's art world in the past decade has
much in evidence as it is in the capital, in fact been the establishment of these
and where officials tend to bow to local private galleries, which far outnumber
interests more than Beijing's demands. semi-public galleries and provide more
This is true of all sorts of exhibition opportunities to exhibit experimental art
spaces, including licensed public galleries outside the official system of art exhibi-
and privately owned or semi-public tion. Commercial galleries appeared first
galleries.
in the early 1990s, and now constitute the
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Reinventing Exhibition Spaces in China
majority of private galleries. Strictly speak-
ing, a commercial gallery is not a licensed
`exhibition space'. But because it is a
licensed `art business', its space can be
used to show art works without additional
official permission. Quite a few owners or
managers of these commercial galleries
take a personal interest in experimental
art, and have supported `non-profit'
exhibitions of installations, video art, and
performances in their galleries. While
mainly offering `milder' types of experi-
mental art to Western collectors, these
galleries occasionally hold bolder shows
organized by guest curators.
Non-commercial, privately funded art
galleries are a more recent phenomenon
in China. These galleries are defined by
their owners as `non-profit', meaning that
they support these galleries and their
operations with their own money, and
that the art works exhibited there are not
for sale. Although most of these owners
are art collectors, the main programme of
these galleries is not to exhibit private art
collections, but to hold a series of tem-
porary shows organized by guest curators.
These galleries thus differ from both
commercial galleries and private mu-
seums, and have a greater capacity to
exhibit more radical types of experimental
art. For this advantage, some independent
curators have been devoting much time
and energy to help establish non- to help attract private donations to support Page from Supermarket exhibition
commercial galleries.
art, to found a non-commercial gallery catalogue, showing Shi Yong's miniature
requires originality and dedication. It takes fibreglass sculpture Made in China ±
There is no precedent to this type of a tremendous amount of work for curators Welcome to Shanghai, and Yang
exhibition space in Chinese history. and artists to persuade a company or an Fudong's flip-book, I Love My
Neither is it based on any specific Western entrepreneur to establish such an institu- Motherland, 1999.
model, though its basic concept is tion to promote experimental art. But,
certainly derived from Western art because a gallery like this does not belong
museums and galleries funded by private to the government bureaucracy and is not
foundations and donations. Because controlled by any official department,
China does not have a philanthropic some curators and artists see a new system
tradition of funding public art, and of exhibition spaces based primarily on
because no tax law has been developed this kind of private institution.
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Wu Hung
channels, these are `site-specific' exhibi-
tions that serve two interrelated purposes:
they bring experimental art to the public
in a dynamic, guerrilla fashion, and in so
doing transform non-exhibition spaces
into public exhibition spaces. The
organizers of these exhibitions share the
belief that experimental art should be part
of people's lives and should play an active
Opening day of the exhibition Home?
held in Shanghai's Star-Moon Home
Furnishing Centre, 8±12 April 2000.
Among the visitors are two policemen.
It is unclear at present how many galleries role in China's socio-economic trans-
of this kind exist in China; but three of formation. Because these curators often
them, located in Chengdu, Tianjin and want to demonstrate an unambiguous
Shenyang, respectively, have been operat- relationship between an exhibition and
ing for the past several years.6 Each of its social environment, most of these
them has a group of independent curators projects are strongly thematic and centred
and experimental artists as advisers. Some on certain public spaces. It is also
of the most original exhibitions of common for these curators to ask artists
experimental art since 1998 have in fact to submit site-specific works for their
taken place in these and other private exhibitions, and in this way encourage
galleries. Because the owners of these them to contextualize their art within a
galleries are either large companies or rich public space.
businessmen, their influence and relation-
ship with local officials help protect the This direction is exemplified by a number
exhibitions held in their galleries. In of original projects developed in 1999 and
addition, their connections with local 2000. For example, the exhibition
newspapers and television stations help Supermarket was actually held in
a
turn these exhibitions into public events. supermarket in the centre of Shanghai;
Several shows held from 1999 to 2000 in the fashionable bar Club Vogue in Beijing
the Upriver Art Gallery, for example, became the site of the exhibition Art as
supplied the media with sensational Food; upon the opening of the largest
material and attracted people of different `furniture city' in Shanghai, customers had
professions and classes to the exhibitions. the opportunity to see a huge experi-
Encouraged by such attention, some mental art exhibition, called Jia?, or
curators take public interaction as their Home?, on the store's enormous fourth
goal, developing exhibitions around floor. That a majority of these shows used
themes that would arouse public dis- commercial spaces reflects the curators'
cussion and debate.
interest in a `mass commercial culture',
which in their view has become a major
moving force in contemporary Chinese
society. While affiliating experimental art
to this culture, their exhibitions also
provided spaces for artists to comment
Bringing experimental art to the
public
Another recent effort made by indepen- on this culture, either positively or
dent curators and artists is to hold critically. Practically speaking, an exhibi-
experimental art exhibitions in versatile, tion held in a commercial space often
non-exhibition spaces. Instead of creating involves a nuanced negotiation between
either official or private regular exhibition the curator and the owner or manager of
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Reinventing Exhibition Spaces in China
the space. Only because the latter sees Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the
benefit from the proposed exhibition ± Twentieth Century, pp. 13±16, Chicago, The
the prospect of bringing in more David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 1999.
customers or gaining the image of being Generally speaking, this art is defined by its
a `cultured' businessman ± could the `border' position in relation to four other
negotiation reach a happy conclusion. major traditions in contemporary art, namely:
On the part of the curator, however, this (a) official art; (b) academic art; (c) popular
negotiation is approached as an integral urban visual culture; and (d) an `international'
component of the experiment, because commercial art. Experimental art is motivated
only through this process can
a
by the desire to break away from the visual
commercial space be transformed into a modes and ideology of these four traditions.
public exhibition space.
3. I should emphasize that this survey only
I have called these shows `experimental covers spaces that have been used for
exhibitions' because their focus of experimental art exhibitions in recent years.
experimentation has shifted from the Thus the varieties listed here do not represent
content of the exhibition to the exhibition all types of exibition space in China.
itself: its site, form and function.7 Issues
about these aspects of exhibitions loom 4. It is important to note that the `non-profit'
large in present-day China because of an status of these galleries is defined by their
increasing conflict between
a rapidly owners, who fund the galleries and their
developing experimental art and a back- activities by using part of their business
ward, decaying system of art exhibition. income. A gallery in this category usually does
An exhibition of experimental art in not have an independent licence, and should
present-day China is therefore always a be considered a `non-profit' enterprise within
complex social and artistic phenomenon. a larger licensed `business for profit' (qiye in
Instead of simply displaying a group of art Chinese) sector.
works in a public or private space, it is a
heavily contested social event which 5. Shanghai Art Museum, Announcement of
implies the interplay of interconnected Shanghai Biennale 2000, Shanghai, Shanghai
social relationships, offering advocates of Art Museum, 1999.
experimental art a powerful means to
expand their influence in
changing society.
a rapidly 6. These are the Upriver Art Gallery in
■
Chendu, the Taida Art Gallery in Tianjin, and
the Dongyu Museum of Fine Arts in
Shenyang. Among them, the Dongyu Museum
focuses more on building up a private
collection of contemporary Chinese art. See
Robert Bernell, `Interview with Wang Yigang,
Managing Director of the Dong Yu Museum
of Fine Arts in Shenyang', Chinese Type
Contemporary Art Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3,
May/June 1999, pp. 19±22.
Notes
1. For a fuller discussion of the issues touched
upon in this article, see Wu Hung, Exhibiting
Experimental Art in China, Chicago, The
David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 2000.
2. For a full discussion of the concept of
`experimental art', see Wu Hung, Transience:
7. See Wu Hung, op. cit., pp. 12±17.
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